An artwork by Banksy on Rivington Street in London. Photograph: Rickford Compton for the Guardian

Not so long ago the appearance of a work by the superstar graffiti artist Bansky was a source of curiosity and local pride. Now it seems it mainly spells a commercial opportunity.

For the second time this year a Banksy work sprayed on a shop wall in north London has disappeared, most likely to be sold at auction, to the consternation of residents and the local council.

A month after Slave Labour – a jubilee-themed mural depicting a child making union flag bunting – sold for more than £750,000 after being removed from the side of a Poundland in Wood Green, an even better-known work has gone from nearby Tottenham.

No Ball Games, which appeared on a convenience store in September 2009, is one of the secretive Bristol-born artist's most celebrated recent images. Typical of Banksy's blunt polemic style, it shows a pair of stencilled children with their hands raised towards a floating piece of paper bearing the title's words.

Locals became concerned when the side of the building was covered in scaffolding and wooden hoardings this week. The graffiti has now gone, having been split into three pieces for removal.

As with Slave Labour, it has emerged that the people behind this process is Sincura Group, an upmarket concierge service that describes itself on its website as "acquiring access to the inaccessible".

Slave Labour, which was removed in February, was sold by Sincura on behalf of the Poundland building's owners in a controversial process. It was initially offered for auction in Miami but withdrawn moments before the sale following protests from Haringey council. It was re-listed and sold at a private auction in London last month.

In a statement, Sincura said No Ball Games had been "salvaged for restoration" and would eventually be sold to benefit a charity helping local children with disabilities, Step by Step.

The statement said: "A number of attempts have been made over the past to deface the piece … With extensive building works taking place in the local vicinity, and further concerns upon its safety, the piece has been removed to be sensitively restored to its former glory."

Before the work is sold, however, it will be one of the "controversial headline pieces" in a Sincura art exhibition next year, and will feature in a promotional documentary "to give an insight into how this sensitive work is carried out".

Haringey council said it was "very disappointed that an artwork that has become a community landmark since it appeared a few years ago has been removed".

Sincura did not say on whose behalf it was acting, saying only that it had done "extensive due diligence with regard the work's provenance and ownership" and was happy to be involved in the project.

The company's director, Tony Baxter, told the BBC that Sincura had been approached, but declined to say by whom.